The present invention generally relates to a filter press and more particularly, to a filter cloth hanging apparatus for the filter press.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a prior art filter cloth hanging apparatus for a filter press disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,244, two links 33 each constituted by a pair of support arms 32 are provided at opposite sides of a pair of adjacent filter plates 31, respectively. Namely, each pair of the support arms 32 are pivotally attached, at lower ends thereof, to side faces on each side of the pair of the adjacent filter plates 31, respectively and are pivotally coupled, at upper ends thereof, with each other by a pin 34. A spring 35 is attached to the pin 34. A horizontal rod 36 is suspended, between each pair of the support arms 32, from a pair of the springs 35 so as to extend between the pair of the springs 35. Each of the support arms 32 is formed, at a proper position thereof, with a projection 32a such that a pair of auxiliary horizontal rods 37 are extended between the projections 32a of one pair of the support arms 32 disposed on one side of the adjacent filter plates 31 and the corresponding projections 32a of the other pair of the support arms 32 disposed on the other side of the adjacent filter plats 31, respectively. A filter cloth 38 is attached, at opposite ends thereof, to lower edges of the adjacent filter plates 31. The cloth is hung, at a central portion thereof, on the horizontal rod 36 so as to extend, at its two halfway portions between the central portion and the opposite ends of the filter cloth 38, over the auxiliary horizontal rods 37. A pair of side plates 39 are, respectively, provided at the opposite sides of the filter plates 31. Meanwhile, a pair of lugs 31a are, respectively, provided on opposite side faces of each of the filter plates 31 so as to be slidably placed on the side plates 39 such that the filter plates 31 are slid, via the lugs 31a, on the side plates 39.
Thus, in the known filter cloth hanging apparatus, the filter cloth 38 is attached, at the opposite ends, to the lower edges of the adjacent filter plates 31 and is hung, at the central portion, on the horizontal rod 36 so as to extend, at its two halfway portions between the central portion and the opposite ends of the filter cloth 38, over the auxiliary horizontal rods 37 as described above. Accordingly, when the filter plates 31 are retracted away from each other and the horizontal rod 36 is vibrated by a filter cloth vibrator in order to separate filer residue adhering to the filter cloth 38 the vibrations applied from a head of the filter cloth vibrator to the horizontal rod 36 are damped by the auxiliary horizontal rods 37. Therefore, the vibrations are not transmitted to the filter cloth 38 as they are and a problem arises in that it is impossible to sufficiently vibrate the filter cloth 38 as a whole.
Furthermore, in the prior art filter cloth hanging apparatus, since the filter cloth 38 is strained so as to cover an upper space between the adjacent filter plates 31 when the filter plates 31 are retracted away from each other, a washing nozzle of a filter cloth washing device cannot be angularly provided from above the filter plates 31. Thus, the filter cloth washing device is required to be provided at one side of or downwardly of the filter plates 31, thereby necessitating a larger filter press which is undesirable.
Moreover, in the known filter cloth hanging apparatus, the filter cloth 38 is required to be attached, at the opposite ends, to the lower edge of the adjacent filter plates 31 and hung on the horizontal rod 36 so as to extend over the auxiliary horizontal rods 37. This results in a troublesome and time-consuming filter cloth fitting operation.